Like a Bird Without a Feather

...what the thunderstorms are to the air.
Friedrich von Schiller

Yeah, so drove to Peoria this morning to see some family and especially my great grandfather.  Had evening plans for hanging out and some going out w/ Peoria/Bradley friends.  It all fell through.  Every.Single.Detail.  By 1 am, I had no one to go out with, nor a place to crash.

It was nice to see some people during the day though.  And me and my mother are making good progress on getting along, accepting her faults, and just trying to be a son and her a mother. It is nice.  More than nice.

I got to give Allison her little present.  I love giving gifts.  She reacted well and I think she'll really enjoy it.  So, that was good.

I also now have a Sam Adams specially crafted glass.  I love it. MMmmm beer.

An update tomorrow on the past week.

From CNN:

U.S. officials rethink hopes for Iraq democracy(link)

Nightmarish political realities in Baghdad are prompting American officials to curb their vision for democracy in Iraq. Instead, the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security.

Uhhh...is that not what they had before? Only you know, with an infrastructure, not a bunch of dead relatives and friends, etc...?

Fuck. I believe I called this when I was in High School.

Someone famous said that. If you know who, good for you. If you don't, read.

Anywho, check this out. For every pair of shoes you buy, this guy donates a pair to those who need them. If more businesses were built on this model, oh man.

http://www.tomsshoes.com

Well, the Air and Water show on the lake was probably going to be crappy due to inclement weather, and the fact it was the Thunderbirds and not blue angels, so I went to a block party on the south side instead. It was a good time and the cops were called. Pretty awesome.

Had a typical evening with Molly the other day. Studying/eating/talking. Hopefully it will keep happening.

Brasil v. USA, Mens Soccer on September 9th. I was all geared up to go. Including wiggling my way into the presale, but right before I was going to buy the tickets on Thursday morning, I received a call and my great grandfather is going to have some kind of routine procedure at the hospital. Nothing is routing for a 93 year old though, so I decided against attending the game. The idea of getting a call and having to leave Soldier Field and go straight to Peoria is pretty silly. Thusly, I will go somewhere and watch the game, maybe even in Peoria, thusly if something happens I can be there if things go awry.

but seriously...damn.

in other sports news, the Cards are only three games down. Oh yeah. And the only reason the Cubs are in first is because the Cards swept the Brewers. We all know that in the end the cards will have the division, because the Cubs are useless, and the Cards always come back at the end of the season.

Gotta couple of roles of film in for developing now. FINALLY. I want to see some of my photos.

I managed to spend only 200 on books for this semester. I've already read 70 pages of the densest non-science related stuff ever.

TCF Bank. Opinions Chicagolanders????

Classes start Thursday night. Holy crap.

Just a few things.

Finding a part time job is a lot harder than I assumed it would be. I believe its mainly because I can't work nights. Hopefully something pans out really soon though.

For the past few weeks, I've listened to nothing but the blues, and damn its wonderful.

Finally, Superbad is hilarious. At least 129% as funny as Knocked Up.

I just watched this movie. It is quite good. The Brasilian cinema that makes it to the States does tend to be excellent. Makes me wonder how much I'm missing out on as far as film goes.

Its a movie about the descent of a man who starts by killing one man who was a gangster in a fit of rage, and quickly becomes a vigilante with the support of the community and even police.

It also has the underlying theme the same of City of God. That the lower classes violence is acceptable in Brasil because the rich can afford to stay well away from it. In this instance it doesn't happen in the actual slums such as the Cidade de Deus but does make show that the class divides are rigid, and even though this man is doing the bidding and is useful to the rich, he'll never be accepted into the higher parts of society.

The film is distributed by film movement. A great company i just learned about that makes it a point to distribute independent and foreign films.

In summary, it is a great movie. A tale of decent into being more and more crazed and violent all at the approval of the surroundings. As the box says from a no-one to hero outlaw in less than twenty-four hours.

4/5 Action - Foreign - Crime

You know, that slogan is for Morton salt. It has nothing to do with the idea that if it is raining, it is raining very hard. It is just that even though its moist out, Morton salt does not clump up.

I left my windows cracked and moon roof open. Again.

It rained.

Again.

I'm about sick of doing this to myself over and over.

I've had phone calls the past two nights that make me feel good that I'm I am the person to be called.

I'm enrolling in RCIA. That is that.

Well, this is the first post in this Blogger shindig. I had a livejournal but I really just don't care for the site all that much.

A kid from my Alma Mater died in a house fire in a horribly idiotic prank gone awry involving him sleeping and others shooting roman candles and running out of the house while he died in the ensuing fire. I don't really feel anything about it. I feel more bad that I don't care that he died. I knew very little about him. What I do know are not things that I would attribute to him being a good person.

...I didn't know him. I don't know the hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans that have probably died today too. Thusly I will care about his death as much as most people care about the African's deaths. Not at all.